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Kelsea Ballerini reveals she began dating Chase Stokes after sliding into his DMs

28 February 2023, 17:02

Kelsea Ballerini opens up about her divorce and dating Chase Stokes

By Sam Prance

Kelsea Ballerini started seeing Chase Stokes in private at the end of 2022 following her divorce from Morgan Evans.

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Kelsea Ballerini has opened up about how she began dating Outer Banks' Chase Stokes after she divorced her ex-husband.

Last year (Aug 29), Kelsea Ballerini announced that she was divorcing country singer Morgan Evans. Since their split, Kelsea has been spotted with 30-year-old Chase Stokes. Chase then took to Instagram to praise Kelsea's new EP, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. He wrote: "So proud of you, your heart & your beautiful soul." He later told Extra: "I adore her to death."

Now, Kelsea has discussed their relationship, how serious it is and what led her to slide into Chase's DMs in the first place.

Kelsea Ballerini reveals she began dating Chase Stokes after sliding into his DMs. Picture: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Image, @hichasestokes via Instagram, Jon Kopaloff/WireImage

Discussing dating and her divorce on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Kelsea revealed: "I think I grieved a lot of the marriage in the marriage. I was ready to open back up. I just felt, why not? I've never really dated...I don't know how it works. I'm like, 'Let's just put ourselves out there; let's just vibe.' And it's been fun. Am I single? Um...God. Um...nope."

Alex then asked if the rumours are true that Kelsea's dating Chase Stokes and Kelsea confirmed that they are but she said: "I'm just vibing." She then added: "Everything is new to me, dating, being photographed with someone. I'm tiptoeing. I'm happy. I'm really relearning a lot about myself and how I show up in a relationship."

Kelsea then let slip how she met Chase. She said the she "slid into his DMs" after her manager suggested they date. She added: "I was just like I'm not going to get on an app...I'd never seen [Outer Banks] but I just knew of him and he knew of me so I followed him and he followed me and I just swan dove right on in."

As for what her first line was, Kelsea explained: "His handle is '@hichasestokes,' and I said, 'Hi, Chase Stokes.'"

Chase Stokes praises Kelsea Ballerini's Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP. Picture: @hichasestokes via Instagram

When asked whether or not she feels a responsibility to hide her relationship to avoid hurting her ex's feelings, Kelsea said: "No because I'm not married to him anymore and I don't need to care about his feelings anymore. I mean that with all the respect in the world. His journey is not mine. I hope that he is protected. That is not my job."

Kelsea ended by revealing that she's been talking to Chase "since the beginning of December". She said: "I'm having fun."

So there we have it! Sliding into someone's DMs actually works.